NASA has completed its investigation into the troubled 2024 Starliner mission, officially classifying the incident as a “Type A” mishap — the agency’s most serious category of mission failure.
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The designation places the Starliner test flight in the same classification as the Space Shuttle Challenger and Space Shuttle Columbia tragedies, which together claimed 14 astronaut lives.
Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were launched aboard the Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station in July 2024 for what was planned as an eight-day mission. However, technical malfunctions rendered the capsule unsafe for human return, forcing NASA to bring the spacecraft back to Earth without crew and leaving the astronauts aboard the ISS for approximately nine months.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the investigation uncovered failures dating back to the program’s early development, including shortcomings in contract management, oversight, technical rigor, and leadership decision-making.
The spacecraft was developed by Boeing, and investigators found that design compromises and insufficient hardware qualification occurred during development, sometimes beyond NASA’s full understanding.
According to the report, both technical flaws and organizational issues contributed to the crisis, with program pressures occasionally prioritising schedule commitments over safety considerations. Officials also acknowledged that concerns about reputational damage delayed the formal declaration of the mishap, while the program initially conducted its own internal review before a broader investigation was launched.
NASA said lessons learned from the incident would guide reforms aimed at strengthening oversight and improving safety standards for future human spaceflight missions.
